Traditional sleep or rest support structures, such as furniture including mattresses, are often self-contained and entirely encased, which is a disadvantage. For example, a typical mattress employs a number of coil springs, encased in a frame and fabric material. The fabric material is typically a contiguous material that creates a taught and flat surface, which is unable to conform to particular forces such as those associated with the curves of a body or pressures generated by various body parts. Also, displacement of any individual spring may be affected by the fabric encasement. The fabric encasement affects how pressure is distributed across the support structure. Furthermore, fabric encasement makes it difficult to replace materials internal to the fabric encasement as they wear down. With a typical mattress, for example, coil or cushion failure results in the entire mattress being thrown away.
Though attempts have been made toward independent coil systems, these coil systems still suffer many of the disadvantages discussed above. For example, independent coils systems are typically still encased in fabric and fastened to one another via the fabric encasement. Thus, displacement of an individual spring can still affect other springs (e.g., via the fabric encasement). Likewise, direct access to the coil, the cushion, and other components is prevented by the fabric encasement. Thus, replacement of materials is still difficult.
Improved systems and devices for support structures and vertical isolation devices are therefore needed.